Ciliwung | |
River | |
Lower Ciliwung at Jakarta
|
|
Country | Indonesia |
---|---|
Cities | Jakarta, Depok, Bogor |
Source | |
- location | Mount Pangrango, Bogor Regency, West Java, Indonesia |
- elevation | 3,002 m (9,849 ft) |
Mouth | |
- elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
Length | 119 km (74 mi) |
Basin | 375 km2 (145 sq mi) |
Ciliwung, written as Tji Liwung in Dutch, is a 119 km long river in the western region of Java where it flows through two provinces, West Java and the special region of Jakarta. The natural estuary of the Ciliwung river, known as the Kali Besar ("Big River"), was an important strategic point for trade in the precolonial and colonial periods and was instrumental in the founding of the port city of Jakarta, but has been lost from reorganization of the watercourse of the rivers around the area into canals.
The etymology of Ciliwung is uncertain; the two least implausible assumptions are "the whirlpool" (compare Sundanese liwung "be distressed, upset" and Javanese "madly turning around, be tormented") or "the meandering one" (compare Malay liuk, liut "to twist"). It is possible that the name originated from one of the many epithets of the king of Pajajaran Sri Baduga Maharaja, among them is Prabu Haliwung, so named because of his temperamental attitude. The name Ci Haliwung was recorded in the map of C.M. Pleyte (1919).
Ciliwung is 119 km long with a catchment area of 476 km2. The Ciliwung river has its source at Mandalawangi in Bogor Regency with the highest peak at 3,002 m. The river flows in a northern direction passing several active volcanoes, Mount Salak, Mount Kendeng, and Mount Halimun, crosses two main cities Bogor and Jakarta before finally flowing into the Java Sea through Jakarta Bay. The main tributaries in the upper catchment area are the Ciesek and Ciluar rivers with respective lengths 9.7 km and 21.0 km, with catchment areas of 27.15 km2 and 35.25 km2 respectively.
Ciliwung river basin has a narrow and elongated shape. The 17.2 km length of the upstream area has a very steep slope (0.08), The 25.4 km length in the middle-reach has a slope of 0.01 and the downstream, 55 km in length, has a flat slope of 0.0018. In general the geology of the upstream of Ciliwung river basin is dominated by Tuffaceous Breccia and older deposits lahar and lava. The middle-reach consists mainly of Quaternary period alluvial fans and volcanic rocks. The downstream area is dominated by alluvial and beach ridge deposits.